Hamlet
By
William Shakespeare
Act I:
Scene 4

HORATIO.It beckons you to go away with it,As if it some impartment did desireTo you alone.

MARCELLUS.Look with what courteous actionIt waves you to a more removed ground:But do not go with it!

HORATIO.No, by no means.

HAMLET.It will not speak; then will I follow it.

HORATIO.Do not, my lord.

HAMLET.Why, what should be the fear?I do not set my life at a pin's fee;And for my soul, what can it do to that,Being a thing immortal as itself?It waves me forth again; — I'll follow it.

HORATIO.What if it tempt you toward the flood, my lord,Or to the dreadful summit of the cliffThat beetles o'er his base into the sea,And there assume some other horrible formWhich might deprive your sovereignty of reason,And draw you into madness? think of it:The very place puts toys of desperation,Without more motive, into every brainThat looks so many fadoms to the seaAnd hears it roar beneath.